Love in the Darkness
by alosercanwin
Summary: The war is lost and Hermione retreats to the forbidden forest, leading the remaining studens into hiding. However, before long they're found by Draco, who not only claims to be on their side but starts to win the heart of Hermione. Is he to be trusted?
1. Their Leader

One

She was never one to run when she was scared or threatened. She always stood up for what she knew was right and she never turned her back on her friends. She fought with an iron fist and brought down whoever she could. Her knowledge and bravery allowed her to be strong when faced with a bad or scary situation, and if caught, her strength and will power to live kept her going… kept her motivated. And she was a natural born leader, when it came to knowledge or friendship, she was always there leading the pack and pushing them along, whether they noticed it or not.

But this time, she found herself running. She found herself running because by running, she was fighting. She wasn't giving them a chance to catch her and she wasn't going down without a fight. She would run, hide, survive, lead, protect, and… kill. She would do whatever she had to do to protect the people she knew she had to protect, the people who now looked up to her in their time of need. She was all they had left of the once all mighty golden trio.

Something had happened, nobody knew what exactly, but something had happened. They had lost. Harry had stood up to Voldemort and had fallen. 'The boy who lived' became 'the boy who fell', and along with him, fell Hogwarts. At first it was nothing but silence, nobody wanting to believe that what they saw or heard was true, especially Hermione and Ron, but now it was too late. The silence only lasted for a mere second before Voldemort let out a piercing laughter that thrashed through the sky, sending chills down everybody's spines.

Deatheaters attacked the young and the old, grabbing whoever they could reach and stunning them, knocking them out before throwing them to the side only for them to be captured later when they were weak and helpless. The lives of the injured and the weak didn't even have a chance of survival. The deatheaters didn't give them that chance, killing them before they had a chance to even say goodbye to the ones they loved.

Hogwarts was a scene of terror. Screams echoed throughout the halls, sobs bounced off the walls and echoed inside of your head, never leaving. Blood lined the stone walls like paint. And broken, dead lifeless bodies lay on the ground, covered up by loved ones who refused to let go. The worst, however, for Hermione was watching Voldemort and his very few close deatheaters poking and kicking at Harry's body. They would levitate him into the air only to watch him fall back to the ground and laugh.

If it wasn't for Ron, Hermione would have lost her life that night. Although it pained Ron to do it, he grabbed Hermione as she tried to fight her way to at least help Harry's body rest in peace, and pulled her away. With tears pouring down her eyes and her arms thrashing, Ron lifted her up over his shoulder and ran in the same direction as everybody else… outside of the castle.

He had placed her down by the greenhouses and cupped her cheeks in both of his hands, wiping away her tears that still ran down her face. Looking her deep in her brown eyes, he connected his lips with hers at full force, giving Hermione the most passionate kiss he had ever given her. Releasing the kiss, hands still on the side of her cheeks, he smiled at her. "Run Hermione. You're an amazing witch and you don't deserve this life. Run, fight, protect, lead, and… love."

"I do love, Ron." Hermione pleaded, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I love you."

"Maybe in another life." And as one last tear fell from his blue eyes and down his dirt and blood covered cheek, he spoke his last words to the woman he loved. "I love you so much Hermione." And with one last, hard, passionate kiss on the lips, he let go of the sides of Hermione's face and disappeared back into the castle, ignoring the screams and cries coming from Hermione, pleading with him to come back.

Standing with her back to the green house, she allowed the rest of the tears to pour down her cheeks as she watched the horror from the side lines. People fleeing into the forbidden forest, just barely dodging killing and stunning curses, and some not dodging them at all. For a moment, the cries and screams were muffled, almost like a bomb had dropped beside her and she was temporarily deaf, only able to hear her own heart beat. Licking her lips and grabbing her wand out of her pocket, she made up her mind.

She was going to take Ron's advice. She would run, fight, protect, lead, and even love. Pushing off from the greenhouse she ran off at a full sprint heading towards the castle, only stopping to help the fallen get back up and on their way. Running forward with her head turned towards the deatheaters attacking them, she stunned as many as she could. Finally making it into the forest, she yelled quickly towards whoever was near her, and had wands, to stand up and fight. Using the forest trees as barriers, they waited. They waited for each deatheater to come into visual before catching them off guard and stunning them. When none came, they all gathered together and quickly sprinted in the same direction the others had fled in.

This was how Hermione Granger became their leader. She was the oldest, the last remaining member of the golden trio, and the brightest witch of her age. She was a natural born leader, so lead she would do.


	2. Here in these woods

_Last Chapter: This was how Hermione Granger became their leader. She was the oldest, the last remaining member of the golden trio, and the brightest witch of her age. She was a natural born leader, so lead she would do._

Hermione licked her lips and inhaled a deep breath when all eyes became focused on her. Even thought she was prepared to take the responsibility of the leader, she wasn't necessarily ready for it. She was only seventeen, and she didn't even complete all seven years at Hogwarts. She was mature and extremely intelligent, but she couldn't lead a group of thirty or more students, who was she kidding? They would need shelter, food, protection, medicine, and who knows what else. Could she really prove them with all that?

Hermione knew she probably couldn't, but looking into the sad, hurt, and lonely sets of eyes in the crowd before her, she knew she had to try.

For the first time, she actually looked at the crowd before her. First, second, and third years all huddled together to the right, while the older students stayed to the left. And even though they separated each other by age and maturity level, house colors jumbled in and out of the blacks of everybody's cloaks. Nobody was separated anymore, not really. Once Harry had died, everybody came together. There was no more Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin, there was only good and evil, and whatever side you chose to fight for.

She exhaled another deep breath and then cleared her throat, her eyes darting from student to student. "Uh…hi." She stared out shyly. "In case you don't know who I am, my names Hermione. What happened back in Hogwarts was… well I don't really think that there's a word to describe what happened. But what happened, happened, and there's nothing we can really do about it now. But what we can do is survive. There are several of us left now, and a few of what's left are most likely being held prisoners in Hogwarts. The other couple are right here." Hermione pointed to the people in front of her. "We might have just made it out, but we still made it out, our scars proof.

"Whether you have physical scars from being hit, mental scars from losing the ones you held closest to your heart, or both, these scars should create an anger and the will to survive. We made it out of the castle and into the safety of the forest's shadow for a reason. Now, I'm not sure what that reason is yet, but right now it doesn't matter. We need to continue surviving, and to do so we need to come together as one. Forget about the drama and the hatred you showed towards other people in school, people who are probably sitting amongst you right now. Times have changed… and it's time for us to realize it.

"Here in these woods we'll survive. And the only way to survive is to come together. Ravenclaws, use your knowledge to teach everybody spells and enchantments that will help us to survive longer out here. Hufflepuffs, use your loyality and bring everybody together, in whatever means necessary. And Gryffindors, use your bravery to protect us all and stand up to the ones that make others cower. We can do this everybody… we can survive." Hermione stopped for a second, inhaled another deep breath, then continued on with her speech. "Now, the first thing we need to do is help anybody who is injured. Everybody out there who knows spells that can help who's hurt, then please help them. Secondly, we're going to need to find food and make some kind of shelter for us. We'll get groups set up and go around in search of food later, but right now, concentrate on the wounded." Hermione stopped again and watched as older students got up and started making their way around the circle or students, looking for injuries.

Licking her lips, she started making her way into the crowd as well, deciding she should follow her own advice and heal the wounded as well. Right as she spotted an injured third year, she heard somebody call her name from behind her. She turned around quickly and felt her whole body warm up with happiness. She couldn't hold back a smile as the red head came running towards her. "Oh, Ginny. I'm so happy you're alright." Hermione said wrapping her arms around Ginny in a huge.

"Same goes here, Hermione." Ginny said once they released the hug. "Neville and Luna made it out to."

"Thank god we all made it out alive." Hermione said running a hand through her curls and looking around at all the people before her.

"Not all of us." Ginny said sadly, looking down at the ground. Hermione snapped her head back and looked at Ginny sadly. Biting her lips together, she cautiously placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny looked up at Hermione slowly, tears running down her cheeks. "So many people got hurt, so many people were-" Ginny suddenly burst into tears and Hermione wrapped her arms around the fragile red head, patting her back comfortingly.

"I know, Ginny." Hermione said quietly, finding it hard for her to keep the tears back herself. "But don't worry, we're going to help them."

Ginny pulled away from Hermione and looked up into her eyes. "Did you really mean what you said?"

Hermione exhaled a deep breath, forced a smile, and nodded. "I'm not giving up, and neither should anybody else.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds, Hermione smiling slightly while Ginny looked sadly at the ground. "But how are we possibly going to survive out here?"

"Ginny." Hermione said calmly, putting a hand on the red heads shoulder so she looked up at her. "If we can't do this, then we must have forgotten all the things we did in the past. We can do anything we put our minds to, including surviving."

"We're all underage witches and wizards, except a few of us. Sure, some of us D.A. members have stood up against deatheaters and dark spells, but most of the students here haven't. Most of these people here are all fourth years and younger." Ginny said quietly. "What could they possibly know to help us?"

"We'll teach them." Hermione said smiling at Ginny before turning to the people around her and speaking in a loud voice. "Okay everybody, listen up!" Hermione waited for all eyes to be on her before she stared speaking again. "We're going to have to start collecting food and building shelters. We should also set up some protection spells. If you know any spells, come and see me and we'll separate into groups and set them up in the majority of our area. If you're going to go and get food or things to make shelters in, stay together. Older students try and stick with the younger ones and don't separate no matter what. Protect each other. Deatheaters are probably all over the forest right now. We don't really need any more deaths or injuries tonight."

Hermione finished and watched as all the students who weren't injured stood up and separated into groups. She smiled at the few older students who approached her, including Neville and Luna, who all knew protective spells. Giving each other quick hugs, they all headed off, wands drawn, around the perimeter of the area they were in, setting off all the spells they knew to hide them from the deatheaters.

Little did they know that there was a pair of silver grey eyes watching them in the shadows, already having found them.

* * *


End file.
